„How can opportunities für young people be activated in regions with a shrinking population?“

The Institute for a Better Demographic Future awards the Demography
Prize for Young Scientists every two years since 2007. The deadline for
all entries was September 1st 2009. Also its second edition, 2008/2009,
is characterized by the high quality of the replies: ten articles
written by a total of 17 European authors are in the final round of the
competition. It is also remarkable that the authors come from a great
variety of scientific fields: ethnology, social sciences, political
science, cultural management, economics, psychology, social pedagogy,
philosophy, journalism, geography and business administration. The
diversity of the articles thereby mirrors the interdisciplinary
relevance of the topic. In addition to their overall quality, the
papers feature new, innovative approaches and interdisciplinary
research designs.

The jury has awarded three of the submitted articles.

The first place is shared by the following submissions:

“Opportunities and Possibilities for Young People in Shrinking Cities" by Felix Kroh and "Don't Waste Your Youth" by Karsten Bär, Anja Erdmann and Corinna Hamann.

The article "Zachte G: a modern approach towards building networks for young people in a shrinking region“ by Maya Rocak and Maurice Hermans was chosen for a special award.

On March 5th 2010 the winners were honoured during the proceedings of a symposium where they were also given the opportunity to present their work.

You can find more information on the 2nd Demography Prize, as well as the awarded works, here (in German).